Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, has announced that his Blue Origin aerospace company will have its first launch in July.
The company will launch a crew on its New Shepard rocket. The mission is expected to cross the Karman Line. It is generally accepted that this is where space begins.
One of the seats on the mission will be auctioned off online.
Said Ariane Cornell, director of astronaut sales at Blue Origin: ‘Only 569 people have ever been over the Karman Line. With our New Shepard vehicle, we’re about to change that and change it dramatically.’
Bezos has long had an interest in space travel, and founded Blue Origin in 2000.
The New Shepard will take people up to the very edge of space where they will experience three minutes of weightlessness and will have reached such a height that they will no longer see the blue of Earth’s atmosphere, but theblack of space.
The proceeds of the auctioned seat will go to a foundation that promotes science and education technology, but in future members of the public will probably pay about US$200 000 for a seat with Blue Origin.